“I think the big thing is just the team and the Daytona 500 qualifying is about the team guys and the effort they put into these cars and it’s nothing special I did, it’s really what kind of work they did this off-season to make it happen”, Elliott said.
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And that’s an important first step.
Rookie Chase Elliott and Sprint Cup veteran Matt Kenseth will start from the front row for February 21’s Daytona 500 after having the fastest times in Sunday’s final round of qualifying.
“Jeff (Gordon) knows all about that and I just wanted to give a big thanks to NAPA Auto Parts and all of our partners at HMS on this No. 24 vehicle”. “I says (to him), try and get us a 500, will you?” The Chevrolet superteam has taken pole here in four of the last eight years, while their engines would add one more with Stewart Haas Racing’s Danica Patrick in 2013.
Add this quick Fun Fact: No. 24 is on the pole for Daytona 500.
Matt Kenseth was the only other driver to reach the 45-second mark, running just 0.065 seconds behind Elliott and qualifying second. The top 12 drivers among the 44 entrants moved on to a second round where they raced for the pole.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. was fastest in the first round, which consisted of one lap single vehicle runs. Logano, the fastest in practice, was 12th, beating Casey Mears for the top transfer spot by 0.001 second. The DAYTONA 500 is about the team. The two drivers out-qualified the remaining teams without Charters, which means two starting positions will be on the line come Thursday. Blaney ran 16 races for the Woods past year and failed to qualify for three others because rain washed out the session. Results in those races will determine the 500 lineup.
The rest of the top five was Dale Earnhardt Jr.at 45.993 seconds, Kyle Busch at 46.126 seconds and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.at 46.126 seconds. (2011). Bill Elliott landed the pole in 1985, 1986, 1987 and 2001. He will start one of the qualifying races from the rear of the field. ESPN reports that officials held Truex from making a lap due to a noncompliant roof flap, while disallowing times of Vickers and Harvick-both in Stewart-Haas Racing cars-due to noncompliant track bars.
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